Tamilnad Mercantile Bank net rises to Rs 82.4 crore

Tuticorin-based Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd has reported a net profit of Rs 82.35 crore during the year ended March 2005, registering a marginal growth of about 2.06% over the previous year’s Rs 80.68 crore. Operating profit increased to Rs 174.21 crore (Rs 169.89 crore). The board has proposed a dividend of 250% for the shareholders subject to approval of the members at the annual general meeting.

The business volume of the bank went up by 14.34% to reach Rs 7,453 crore with deposits of Rs 4,826.88 crore and advances of Rs 2,626.24. Cost of deposits has come down to 6.15%. Capital adequacy ratio was at 19.74%. Net NPA has come down from 5% to 2.95%.

According to a bank statement, in order to sustain the credit growth, the bank had given greater thrust to retail lending. The bank had also fine-tuned its existing retail products and introduced new products to suit customers requirements.

On the technology front, TMB has brought a paradigm change in its information technology initiatives. It has brought all the 172 branches and the service branch in Chennai under core banking solution. The seven regional offices and head office are also connected to net.

The bank plans to augment its branch network by opening more number of branches at potential metro and urban centres. It has obtained permission from the RBI to open a branch at Gingee in Tamil Nadu. TMB, according to the statement, has strengthened its risk management system and taken a number of steps to meet the challenges of Basel II norms.